SCORE Journal - The Official Publication of SCORE Off-Road Racing
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/1525626
CROWN JEWELS King Shocks Builds On Its Baja-Winning Legacy By Dan Sanchez There’s a reason why King Shocks are on more SCORE off-road race vehicles than any other, and is the Official Shock of SCORE International. Its roots in SCORE Off-Road Racing began when Lance King founded King Off-Road Racing Shocks in 1996. Along with his sons Ross and Brett, now the current owners, they wanted to fully dedicate themselves to building the best products in off-road motorsports. Decades later, the company achieved its goal, earning a reputation for reliability, winning, continual product improvement, and racer support. “Every product we sell is the result of constant testing and development done with top racers worldwide,” says Jimmy Bajza, Engineering Manager for King Shocks. “Each product is then made available for the rest of our customers.” Off-road enthusiasts know that the shocks used on SCORE race vehicles contain the same high-grade components used in the company’s products for enthusiast trucks, Overlanding vehicles, SUVs, UTVs, and more. This, along with helping racers tune and rebuild the shocks they purchased, is another reason for the huge popularity of these products. “Our company prides itself on putting quality, performance, and customer service above all else,” says Bajza. “Real-world testing exposes our designs to a level of abuse and destructive forces that cannot be duplicated in a laboratory. In addition to our busy field-testing schedule, preliminary designs are quantified using our state-of-the-art, electro-magnetic shock dyno. We also work with teams to get them the best possible shock package which may require one-off components, one-off bypass layouts, or even custom shock configurations. Giving these teams the tools to win races.” Some of the racing advancements King has made include internal position-sensitive dampening and the use of internal bypass on coilover shocks. According to Brett King, the company’s external compression adjusters and anti-cavitation valves on coilover designs have helped reduce body roll, making suspensions more rigid but not stiff, while also providing improved low-speed control. Along with making small and large changes to race shocks, the company is also continuing to expand into the enthusiast aftermarket. “The UTV market is a great market for us right now. Enthusiasts that want more from their stock vehicles come to us to improve performance, while racers want the biggest and best shock package available,” says Bajza. “We will tune for the weekend warrior enthusiast and also for racers who will use their vehicles to the highest potential they can achieve.” King also continues to expand its racing technology to everyday vehicles. This includes OE upgrade products for Chevrolet, Ford, Toyota, Ram, Lexus, Mercedes, and many others. “For many people, their daily driven truck is also their weekend toy,” said Brett King during a past interview with SCORE Journal. “Their vehicles have become dual-purpose, but the shocks we make for these vehicles are modified versions of what is used in a modern SCORE Trophy Truck.” With new OE upgrades available from King Shocks, comes the onset of electronic tuning which King is also looking into. “Electronic shocks and tuning are the future in shock technology,” says Bajza. “The sport is progressing and staying up to date with the progression is what we do. We have developed multiple applications that give customers options to upgrade to our electronic shock packages, and as time progresses, we will release more applications. Brett King once said that the company isn’t trying to create and sell millions of shocks to everyone, but the upper five percent of off-road racing and enthusiasts want the same quality of components in their vehicles. As the popularity of its products increases, King Shocks continues to expand in size and applications, creating more off-road enthusiasts and winning racers along the way.